My First Subordinates
Confused, I followed Captain Dusty as instructed.
Exiting the administration building, we immediately boarded one of the carts parked nearby, with the captain driving us straight to the back of the landing field.
As a joint civilian and military spaceport, the place was huge.
After riding the cart for about twenty minutes, two rather old patrol frigates came into view.
The captain headed directly for the older of the two frigates – this must be our 3rd Patrol Fleet ship.
I had heard 3rd Patrol Fleet and figured this must be the bottom ship of the Coast Guard with its three patrol fleets, but it really was an old ship.
Paying no mind whatsoever to my feelings, the cart stopped near the middle section of the patrol frigate Akkeshi.
Around the Akkeshi, loading of cargo and supplies was actively underway in preparation for departure.
Noticing the captain, some people called out.
“Captain on deck!”
At that, those around temporarily halted work and saluted.
Captain Dusty returned the salute then prompted them to resume work.
After confirming everyone had returned to work, the captain headed towards a hangar in the rear of the patrol frigate.
“They’re loading massive amounts of cargo in preparation to ship out,” he briefly explained.
The rear hangar hatch was the entrance for this loading work.
Various work vehicles continuously moved towards the hatch, but this hatch was originally meant for the armed launches under my command. For loading they would be in the way, so they had been moved out of the hangar.
Those armed launches had been parked outside and a large number of women were working around them.
Some were maintaining the launches, some cleaning their own weapons, others training – doing various tasks.
The captain was headed towards those women.
“2nd inspection platoon, stop work and gather here.”
Hearing the captain, one woman called out.
“Hey, assemble up. Line up. Salute the captain.”
“Ah, relax, no need for that.”
“At ease.”
“Bruce sub-lieutenant, over here.”
“Sir.”
“Let me introduce you. The 2nd inspection platoon has been without a leader for a while but a platoon leader has finally arrived. He’s your new boss. Sub-lieutenant, introduce yourself.”
“I’m Nao Bruce, assigned here from the military. My experience is lacking compared to you all, but I’ll be your platoon leader. Looking forward to working with you.”
For some reason my introduction caused a stir among them, but the captain’s cough brought back order.
“So there you have it. Follow the sub-lieutenant’s instructions from now on. Oh right, departure day after tomorrow has been formally decided. So finish preparations by tomorrow. Dismissed.”
“Alright sub-lieutenant, supervise your subordinates until tonight when I’ll introduce you to the other officers. But for now, they’re all yours.”
Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
And so for the first time, I was left on my own.
I was at a loss for what to do next.
So for now, I made an effort to observe my surroundings.
Once the ship launched into space, the rear hatch served both as the exit for the armed launches and as the hangar for the escort fighters.
The escort fighters, according to their role, would launch from the catapults on the sides when leaving the frigate, but would recover through this rear hatch when returning.
So the inspection platoon sharing the rear hangar with the fighter pilots and technicians tended to be on good terms. At the moment, near the inspection platoon, two fighters were being maintained by their pilots and technicians.
Earlier the captain had only introduced me to the inspection platoon members, but we were neighbors so to speak, so I went to greet the fighter personnel as well.
Noticing me approach, one technician immediately halted work and saluted.
“Sub-lieutenant, did you need something?”
I didn’t actually need anything.
While wondering what to do, the woman who had called out orders when the captain introduced me earlier came over and called out to me.
“Dear me, that won’t get us anywhere. Hey! Sorry but come gather up.”
“What’s going on?”
“Big sister Meyrica, something fun happen?”
“Ah, we got a new platoon leader assigned. Nao Bruce sub-lieutenant. Sorry but let’s get along.”
It seemed Warrant Officer Meyrica, who had been looking after the inspection platoon here, was something of a boss around the rear hangar.
At her call, everyone obediently gathered without complaint.
Apparently she held the highest rank here and was quite popular. Meyrica Warrant Officer was loved by all it seemed.
“Thank you, warrant officer. Sorry to interrupt your work. As she just explained, I’m Nao Bruce, newly assigned 2nd inspection platoon leader. I hold the rank of sub-lieutenant in the Capital Region Guards. But as you can see, I’m a total novice just out of school. I’ve had some decent training so shouldn’t get in your way too much. Please treat me well.”
Perhaps not the most encouraging introduction from a superior officer, but it was the truth.
If the veneer was going to peel off quickly anyway, better not to varnish it from the start.
Glancing around after my greeting, I didn’t get too bad of an impression.
“Hmm, boss seems alright to me.”
“Just like big sister said. I’d heard an arrogant guy was coming from the military so this is a nice surprise.”
“So you’re that rumored sub-lieutenant?”
“Rumors? What’s that about?”
“Huh? You don’t know, big sister? This guy’s some bigshot they didn’t know what to do with.”
“Eh? Just what did you get up to, Sir Leader?”
“No clue what you heard, but what kind of rumors?”
“Well I don’t know more than that, but I heard they had big trouble deciding where to assign you.”
“How do you know stuff like that?”
“My cousin’s a clerk at the Capital Police HQ. Heard it from there. Even the Coast Guard top brass were complaining, ‘Why’s the military saddling us with their problem child?’ Sounds like heads were scratched over you.”
“I see. That’s a relief then. Welcome to the Coast Guard’s club of unwanted kids.”
“Warrant officer, what’s with calling us unwanted?”
“Oh? Don’t tell me you didn’t know how the ship is seen. They call this ship the Coast Guard’s reject bin.”
“Well, judging by the ship’s age, I figured something like that. But might as well hear the actual reasons.”
“What, you want us to tell you?”
“Is it difficult to say out loud?”
“Can’t yell it, but come over here and I’ll explain quietly.”
At her prompting, I followed the warrant officer to a discrete location near the ship.
There she told me a story about the ship that met my expectations, or rather didn’t surprise me at all.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
This was a famous tale in this country. Just like Mark said he hadn’t heard any good rumors. The Coast Guard took in those expelled from the military, but there actually weren’t many numbers wise.
Limiting to the upper ranks, most were assigned to desk jobs planetside.
Only a small fraction boarded ships. And those few almost all held ranks of commander or above, so from a practical standpoint, they were just decorative on ships and harmless to operations planetside.
But exceptions existed everywhere, and until I was assigned, the lowest ranking detachment had been our ship captain, Major Dusty.
About three years ago, due to a scandal caused by a certain noble in the military, he had been sent here on detachment to the Coast Guard. Until then, he came from a family connected to influential nobles in the military and had been living large with the military himself.
After the scandal three years ago, with the noble disgraced and losing his backing, Captain Dusty, then a captain, met the same fate of detachment after losing his protection.
Rumors of corruption had constantly surrounded Captain Dusty, mainly embezzlement and bribery, but lacking evidence, he evaded punishment.
Even the Coast Guard, called the military’s reject bin, normally would not let such a person take an administrative post, so this ship alone accepted the military detainee as captain when the other Coast Guard ships were commanded by up-from-the-bottom officers.
From my perspective, I would question whether it’s okay to have such a risky person as the captain, but it seems the Coast Guard has considered this.
It’s said that Captain Dusty, the current squadron leader, and Captain Pott, who was sent for a secondment at the same time due to the incident three years ago, have the worst possible relationship.
Given their already strained relationship, it’s even more complicated now that they’ve become superiors due to this secondment. The captain is closely monitored, and I’ve heard that there’s no room for mischief here.
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Not a single male among MC’s subordinates? If I were him, I would be afraid of harrassment accusations.